Logan Webb rocked, SF Giants routed by lowly Rockies as dismal season continues

DENVER — When Logan Webb took the mound here, almost a mile above sea level, a little more than a month ago, he only left the game due to a pitch restriction.

In that start, his first back from the injured list, Webb still pitched into the fifth inning.

In his return visit Friday night, following five starts so dominant that he was named National League pitcher of the month earlier in the day, his day was done after only three innings.

“I just got my ass kicked today,” Webb said, more than three hours since he hit the showers.

Apparently the Rockies didn’t get the message that the Fourth of July fireworks were scheduled for after the game. Jake McCarthy started the show on Webb’s first pitch of the game.

McCarthy, the Rockies’ leadoff man, put a first-pitch sinker into the home bullpen, only the beginning of a battering that will go down as one of Webb’s worst nights on the field.

The Giants’ ace yielded seven earned runs on 11 hits — both matching career-highs — in a 15-3 rout to one of the only two teams in the NL with a worse record than San Francisco’s.

From the get-go manager Tony Vitello could see Webb’s pitches were impacted by the altitude.

“The ball can do different things here than the average park,” Vitello said. “Coming out of the shoot, the first pitch of the game, it looked like it ran down and in to the lefty. It’s supposed to go the other way.”

Colorado had a clear plan of attacking, pouncing on Webb early and often. Of the 21 hitters who came to bat against him, nine put one of his first two pitches in play, resulting in seven hits.

“It was a good game plan,” Webb said. “I didn’t adjust very well.”

And yet, probably the most enraging result came on the 12th pitch of Ezequiel Tovar’s at-bat in the second inning, which the No. 9 hitter turned on for the second of three Rockies home runs.

For all the damage the Rockies did against Webb in three innings, they matched it in one inning against Matt Gage and Ryan Walker, who allowed Colorado to bring 12 men to the plate in a seven-run fifth that, even at Coors Field, put this one far out of reach.

Gage put the first three batters of the inning — also the bottom three hitters in the Rockies’ order — on base, and McCarthy slugged a grand slam for his second homer of the night.

What it means

What a deflating way for the Giants to begin their first series of July.

The schedule lightens up substantially, with three games against the Mariners (45-43) being their only ones against a team with a winning record. But they can’t feel too good about their chances of capitalizing when this is how it goes against a team as bad as the Rockies.

“There’s no easy part of the schedule in this league, especially when you’re on the road,” Vitello said.

Who’s hot

Getting a rare chance to play his natural position with Matt Chapman sidelined, Casey Schmitt showed why many evaluators considered him a future Gold Glove candidate as a third baseman.

Schmitt made one of the most spectacular plays of the season — “one of the greatest plays I’ve ever seen,” in the words of Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming — to record the first two outs of the night after Webb allowed the first five Rockies to reach base.

On a sharply hit grounder down the line, Schmitt backhanded the ball, followed his momentum into foul territory — while stepping on third for a force out — and flashed the arm that he used to use to save games at San Diego State, unleashing a submarine throw across the diamond, which Bryce Eldridge scooped at first base to complete a desperately needed double play.

Jonah Cox, an outfielder getting his second chance at second base, also flashed the leather once he entered with the game out of hand. Before the game, Vitello raved about his work with Ron Washington, and it showed, ranging behind the bag at second and making an accurate throw across his body for the second out of the seventh inning.

“I think everybody knows Jonah’s athletic and certainly can benefit from some reps,” Vitello said. “He’s athletic enough he can make a bunch of different plays but actually got tested for the first time on the routine play and looked solid.”

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Who’s not

Safe to say Webb will not be repeating as the pitcher of the month for July.

He had allowed 11 hits twice in 191 previous career starts. He also allowed seven earned runs only twice before. But never in the same outing.

The previous two times he had yielded 11 hits came while also completing six innings. Since becoming a full-time member of the rotation midway through 2021, there had only been one other occasion that he failed to throw a pitch in the fourth inning.

Statistically, there is only one other start in Webb’s career that compares to this one: When the Cardinals knocked him around for eight runs (seven earned) in the fourth start of his career, when he was still 22 years old and struggling to establish himself as a big leaguer.

Here’s the thing: While Coors Field can be a minefield for most starters, Webb hasn’t had many problems here, at least since 2022. Of the starters to log at least 40 innings at Coors Field over the past five seasons, only Merrill Kelly had a lower ERA (1.96) than Webb’s (3.29).

“This place sucks to pitch in, no matter what,” Webb said. So you if you have any excuses going into it or after it, that’s on you. That’s no excuse. I’ve pitched here before.”

Up next

Robbie Ray, who has been on a roll similar to Webb’s, will try to right the ship Saturday in the second game of the series — and Vitello’s first time managing on Fourth of July — against Tomoyuki Sugano.